Flash memories and ferroelectric memories are well-known as nonvolatile memories capable of retaining stored information even after a power supply is turned off.
Among these, the flash memories include a floating gate that is embedded in a gate insulating film of an insulated gate field effect transistor (IGFET). The flash memories store information by accumulating, in this floating gate, electric charges indicating the information to be stored. However, it is required for such flash memories that a tunnel current be applied to the gate insulating film at the time of writing and erasing the information. Thus, there is a drawback that the flash memories require relatively high voltage.
On the other hand, the ferroelectric memories, which are also referred to as ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs), store information by utilizing the hysteresis characteristic of a ferroelectric film provided in a ferroelectric capacitor. The ferroelectric film causes polarization in response to the voltage applied between upper and lower electrodes of the capacitor, and spontaneous polarization remains even after the voltage is turned off. When the polarity of the applied voltage is reversed, the spontaneous polarization is also reversed. Directions of the spontaneous polarization are associated with “1” and “0”, so that the information is written in the ferroelectric film. The voltage required for the FeRAMs to carry out writing is lower than that for the flash memories. In addition, there is also an advantage in that the FeRAMs are capable of writing at a higher rate than the flash memories. Furthermore, the FeRAM is also advantageous because high integration and high durability can be achieved.
In the above-described FeRAM, a hole is formed in an insulating film over the capacitor, and a conductive plug for electrically connecting upper and lower wirings is formed in the hole. When the conductive plug causes contact defect, a circuit including the capacitor malfunctions to cause the FeRAM to be defective.